With public money short, private sector steps into Zika fight

Nurse practitioner Juliana Duque, right, gives a patient who is in her first trimester of pregnancy insecticide and information about mosquito protection at the Borinquen Medical Center in Miami on Aug. 2, 2016.(Photo: Lynne Sladky, AP)

Corrections & clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated how the money from Pfizer would be spent.

MIAMI — A pharmaceutical giant volunteered its sales reps to educate doctors about Zika. Charities are fundraising to buy medical screening equipment. And a company handed out mosquito traps free of charge.

As South Florida waits for long-delayed federal and state money to trickle in, the private sector has stepped up to help ward off fast-spreading Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that causes fevers in adults and can lead to severe birth defects in babies born to Zika-infected mothers.

Congress bickered all summer over a $1.1 billion bill to fund Zika response. And while lawmakers in Washington and Tallahassee tussled over how to use existing federal funds, local officials fronted the money to control the Zika-carrying mosquitoes that have already shown up in Florida's densely populated Miami-Dade County.

Officials in Miami-Dade expect to spend up to $12 million on mosquito control by the time mosquito season ends around Nov. 30. But the county has received just $4.1 million from the state, and grants from Washington won't arrive until December at the earliest. Eventually Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez expects the state and federal governments will pay the county back, but it can't come soon enough. "Reimbursement can always be done faster," Gimenez said.

The funding delays, however aggravating to local officials, come as little surprise to the private entities, said Thomas Bognanno, president of Community Health Charities, which, along with the March of Dimes, is leading a group of philanthropic organizations to launch a national fundraising drive this week. The money raised will help purchase medical equipment, now in short supply, to diagnose and treat people infected by the virus and conduct educational campaigns.

Government is often limited in how quickly it can help in public health emergencies, Bognanno said. That's why he says private entities and citizens have always filled the gap.

"Government has a role, and they will always have a role," he said. "But there are going to be gaps, there are going to be things that the government can't do on a family-by-family basis. We can take that."

Among the private entities is Pfizer, the New York-based pharmaceutical company famous for Viagra. The company said Monday it will contribute $4.1 million to provide contraceptives, help local communities test pregnant women for the virus, and use its sales people to educate medical professionals.

"We believe the public and private sectors should work together to collaborate in these situations," said Shreya Jani, a public health specialist at Pfizer. "Our hope is that by making this announcement, others will join us."

TV's "Dr. Gadget" also got involved, working with Milwaukee-based DynaTrap to distribute $20,000 worth of mosquito traps in Miami last week.

Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott has complained bitterly and publicly about insufficient federal funds for fighting Zika. The state needs more Zika testing kits from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, funding to develop a vaccine and guidance on the best methods for mosquito control, he said.

"The federal government is not being a good partner," Scott said during a press conference in Miami last month.

The Department of Health and Human Services countered that Florida has not used all of the federal money available to it. According to the department, the state has used just $3.4 million of the $38 million it has on hand for Zika response. HHS Assistant Secretary Kevin Griffis rejected the idea that the administration left Florida hanging.

"That's not what the record shows," Griffis said Monday. "The record shows that this administration has worked tirelessly to meet the needs that Florida has outlined."

Congress added to the delays when it took several months to pass a $1.1 billion bill funding Zika response and research programs. The bill became a vehicle for other squabbles, including an argument over whether Planned Parenthood should receive some of that funding.

The White House has identified $600 million it could use for emergency Zika funding nationwide. And Griffis said the department has sped up the process to award grants and contracts that will be funded by Congress' bill. He said the first awards could come as early as December.